


A Family of Friends

by sanctum_c



Series: Aerith Month 2018 [22]
Category: Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: Family, Gen, No Dialogue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:27:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28113873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctum_c/pseuds/sanctum_c
Summary: Aeris reflects on what family means to her.
Relationships: AVALANCHE & Aerith Gainsborough
Series: Aerith Month 2018 [22]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2009521
Kudos: 2





	A Family of Friends

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt 'Family'

Family - to Aeris - had a tendency to shift its make-up over time. For the parts of her early childhood she could still remember (and more critically the parts she had any desire to revisit), family was her mother alone. Everyone else in her life back then was various grades of hostile and she tried her best to keep them at arms length. Serious offenders ranged from the lab technicians who did their work with varying degrees of uncaring obedience to those who called the shots; Hojo and President Shinra in particular.

Her arrival in Sector Five was a jarring change; a new family, but still oddly similar – a single parent like before in the lab. But far more freedom than ever before. More warmth. Family was once a shield to protect her from the ever thirsty needles and harsh glare of the artificial lights. Now she lived in the twilight beneath the plates; her family was more relaxed although Mom was still someone who was there for her if and when she needed her.

On later reflection, Elmyra must have had about the same idea of how to be a mother that Aeris did in being a seven year-old; little. Despite all Aeris's curiosity and desire to see the world, it was hard to shake learned procedures inherited from her time in Shinra. Little things like staying in her room until escorted elsewhere. The certainty that any attempt to go somewhere outside of normal, approved areas would result in pain and potentially reduced portions at meal times. Food was now so different; trickier still to adjust to meals not on a strict rota. It was a long time until Aeris called Elmyra mom – and longer still until the word no longer fazed the older woman every-time.

Mother and daughter learned how to live together over time as they found the boundaries and specific distances needed to feel comfortable with each other. Mom soon learned that the time before their first meeting was not something Aeris wanted to think much about – a notion compounded thanks to Tseng’s intrusion into her new life. Elmyra rebuffed the Turk whenever she could – and Aeris was not about to give him any chance to take her back. Running and hiding in the slums became part of everyday life.

Mom was there for Aeris over the next fourteen years. There to help while she grew into a teenager. There for her to lean on in the aftermath of Zack's disappearance. Zack was a sore spot; though as much as she had cared about him, perhaps even loved him, he was never family. Perhaps he might have been one day; if whatever drew him away had not occurred. If they had been able to spend more time together. Too many ifs. The harsh reality was that even when they were dating, he was often away for long periods – his posting in Junon did not help in that regard. Back then it had not mattered; she had been young and smitten. Back then, if he asked her to marry him she might have said yes without another thought; the same question from him knowing all she did now would have given her pause. Her hypothetical commitment was far less certain. Had life happened differently her family might have grown with him. In the end, nothing came of her time with Zack; an unfulfilled potential.

Aeris could not remember who voiced the notion that modern families were less about actual blood relatives and more about friends. She suspected she would append adoptive parents – and Aeris could never dismiss her connection back to her own mother, but if ever she wanted a larger family- Well. Either she would need to look outside of Midgar for others like her, or assemble said family herself. Her collection of friends in the slums shifted with worrying variance over time; some managed to find a way out of the darkness to live on the Upper plate while others vanished in the night-time. To another human or one of the more monstrous denizens of the city was often unclear. There remained the chance they got back out of the trap that was Midgar, but the odds were slim.

There was no expectation of much from Cloud on the first meeting. He was another SOLDIER, though a rarity given his show of more than a modicum of concern after the mako reactor explosion. Meeting him again was a coincidence, but not unwanted. That he and Tifa would both be similarly lacking a blood-related family like her was a surprise. But the two of them were constructing a new family - a family Aeris was soon drawn into. When they met, Tifa’s family was Barret, Jessie, Biggs, Wedge and Marlene; Cloud's was newer and less clear though contained an overlap of people. Sadly Cloud and Tifa's mutual families soon contracted. A pity Aeris met only Wedge for a brief moment; Jessie and Biggs not at all. She barely had a chance to speak to Barret before Tseng whisked her away and yet he was still prepared to risk his life breaking into Shinra with the other the remainder of Avalanche. He, like Cloud, like Tifa, had come for her.

A family of friends. Her family. To Aeris's surprise, she was part of the bedrock of the family. Like any family they had their arguments, had their unconcerned intimacy; the few flushed faces when changing in cramped confines soon ceased. All of them too tired to gawp at anyone else’s naked body and hiding away was not worth the time. They all took turns for chores within the group; to cook, to heal up, to forage. The family were not exactly discerning about who joined; though Barret had misgivings about Yuffie – and early on it would have been impossible to imagine the group including Cait Sith. But no matter however disparate or odd the origins of each member of the group, they all soon became part of the family.


End file.
